RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access

Vaginal colonisation by probiotic lactobacilli and clinical outcome in women conventionally treated for bacterial vaginosis and yeast infection Sonal Pendharkar1, Erik Brandsborg2, Lennart Hammarström1, Harold Marcotte1 and Per-Göran Larsson3* Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the colonisation by lactobacilli and clinical outcome in women with bacterial vaginosis (BV) and recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis (R-VVC) receiving antibiotic or anti-fungal treatment in combination with the probiotic EcoVag ® capsules. Methods: A total of 40 Scandinavian women diagnosed with BV or VVC on the basis of Amsel’s criteria or clinical symptoms were consecutively recruited in two pilot open label clinical trials. In trial I, women with BV were treated with clindamycin and metronidazole followed by vaginal EcoVag ® capsules, containing Lactobacillus rhamnosus DSM 14870 and Lactobacillus gasseri DSM 14869, for 5 consecutive days after each antibiotic treatment. In trial II, women were recruited in three groups as follows: women with BV receiving clindamycin and metronidazole treatment together with a prolonged administration of EcoVag ® (10 consecutive days after each antibiotic treatment followed by weekl